I Have Entered Mastering Hell on The Walding Family Record

I have learned that the closer you get to the end of a music project, the harder it gets. This is true for songs and it is doubly true for records.

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The last few refinements to go from “work in progress” to the final version are the most challenging. There is no more opportunity to pass the buck or put off a problem for later.

Entering Mastering Hell

In the case of a record, the mastering stage is the last chance to adjust the audio. Mastering happens after the tracks are mixed and balanced against each other. It’s when the entire song, loaded up as a single file, is given small adjustments to bring out the best sound.

There is a lot of compression involved in modern mastering. This not only makes the track sound loud, it makes it sound big and full.

Most of an upcoming The Walding Family record is done, but I have few songs to finish the mix and master on. Inevitably there is at least one song that stubbornly refuses to become finished. No matter how much time you spend on it, it stays slightly wrong.

That’s where I feel like I am at with one or two songs from the new record. I have put in so many hours! At this point at least I do feel like I’m finally close to finishing this thing.

Avuncular Clunk is Doing Well

The plus side is that we finished and released one song last week, Avuncular Clunk. The mastering on that song came out well and it wasn’t too hard to do.

Promotion for the track has been fun. We’re trying to keep pumping it up and getting the word out for another week or so. I’ve learned that part of good promo is persistence.

The next song release will be even better. I’m trying to put together everything that I have learned and get a wider range of media coverage. Blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels, the whole thing. I think it’s possible to do.

We’ll see. But first I have to finish this record!